Jul 15, 2006
Roy Roper was hired by a specialty pharmaceutical company to assist them with their sales force design and development in their health care field. Roy brought a dynamic health care background of 26+ years of management and consulting experience with diverse pharmaceutical companies. His roles have been varied and include national sales management, operations and consulting.
Roy became associated with Ashton Tweed in January of this year and adopted the concept of Interim Executives eagerly. It provided great flexibility and the opportunity to accomplish many different types of assignments in various disciplines.
This was Roy’s first assignment with Ashton Tweed. He had been searching for a similar position on his own prior to working at AstraZeneca, so he was familiar with the interim concept. He values and appreciates that both an organization and a candidate can “test drive” a position, prior to possibly working there on a full time basis.
Ashton Tweed placed Roy with a client that needed an expert to conduct an analysis of their current sales force organization, to identify strengths and inefficiencies, and ultimately to craft recommendations for the company to maximize their return on sales.
"I wound up looking at more than just sales," says Roy. "We looked at how the whole business process fits together, which had implications for their basic business strategy. The company realized that the whole organization must support the sales force. Issues came up about how training, reporting and technical support were done, and how marketing practices supported sales."
Obviously, the client is very happy, for Roy helped them understand the overall big picture - not just the “sales” problem. He expertly highlighted other areas where improvements could impact the sales process. He also helped them develop a better understanding of how the whole organization works, and what they can accomplish as a leadership team to improve their situation.
Roy’s distinctive background enabled him to assimilate a unique perspective for the client’s problem, and he was able to utilize his skills across many disciplines. His aim was to align people around business processes and to focus on outcomes.
"In this business it's all about the people, the process and the technology. For this client, we looked at the people and the process to design an organization that had focus on the business’s outcome," says Roy.
The first phase of Roy’s work is now complete. He just submitted an extensive report to the client’s executives and instigated a new set of sales practice procedures. Roy has now moved on to Phase 2 and is assisting the client review certain strategy planning protocols based on marketplace changes.
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